The Winter Suprise
by RosesAndLilies
Summary: Another oneshot about the Marauders, involving a ball, roses, and everyone's ultimate courage to accept the ones they love.


The Marauders: The Ball

The Marauders: The Ball

Some characters from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series.

It is mid-winter at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Professor Dumbledore decided that the seventh year students should have a privilege, so he planned a ball. He threw in a little twist though. The boys must ask the girls by giving them a red rose. To decline the girls return a white rose and to accept they return a red rose. The students found that somewhat easier than asking in person.

James potter sat in the common room with Sirius Black. He said, "Hey Padfoot, you seen Lily around? I have something for her." He stroked a red rose next to him. Sirius replied, "No, I haven't seen her since breakfast. You were with me all day! When would I have seen her when you didn't?" James didn't use a lot of logic. Just then, Lily walked in. She sat in a chair to read a book. James walked over. He said, "Hey Lilykins. I have something for you." Lily looked up and saw the red rose. James looked into her eyes and waited. She took the rose and said, "I haven't decided who I'm going with yet. As you see, I've already gotten another rose." James yelled, "But you'll accept mine right? Who's that from? Snivellus?" Lily said, "It's SEVERUS James. And I never said that." James yelled, "But it is isn't it! You can't go with him!" Lily said, "Yes it's from Severus Ok! Why can't I go with him and since when is that your decision?" James said, "Because if you do, I'll, I'll kill him! I swear, I will. Nothing you can say will stop me. If you accept his rose I will kill him!" James was screaming. Sirius came over to calm him down. He said, "Prongs, calm down. You're going to scare poor Lily." James screamed,

"Do not tell me to calm down Padfoot! Did you hear what she said!? She's considering going to the ball with some pinheaded slime ball who's never heard of shampoo!" Sirius said, "I'm sure Lily has more sense than that." James stalked off and screamed as he went, "I'll kill him Lily! Kill him!" Lily shouted, "Well you're trying to blackmail me and that is NOT going to get me to pick you!" James ran to the boys' dormitories and started stroking his owl.

Sirius walked in and said, "Smooth Prongs. Now Lily's in a panic and she almost cried." James glared at his best friend. He said, "I meant what I said. If Lily picks Snivellus, I'll kill him!" Sirius replied, "Don't get yourself all mad again. I don't have a date either. If she doesn't pick you we'll stay behind together." James didn't find this comforting at all. He just yelled, "Are you telling me that out of you're seven fan clubs, you couldn't find one girl you actually like?" He was turning into a crazy person and needed to cool down a bit. Sirius walked away and didn't look back.

In the common room he caught Remus Lupin making googly eyes at Nicole Lee. He sat down next to Remus and waited for something to happen. Nicole walked over, but seemed too nervous to speak and went away. Remus called, "Wait!", but Nicole kept running.

Lily found Severus under a tree alone. She said, "Sev, I'm sorry." She handed him a pure white rose. She couldn't stand the look of devastation in his eyes. She started to explain, "Sev, this isn't personal. James… James threatened to kill you if I chose you, so I have to turn you down. I haven't picked James, I probably won't, but I can't pick you. I have to protect you." Severus said, "You still haven't forgiven me for the Mudblood thing. You don't want to go with me." He walked away sadly and Lily could see tears filling his black eyes. Lily walked away, almost as sad as Severus.

In the common room, James was talking to Remus who was telling him about a rumor that had been started. He said that someone started spreading around that he was going out with a Ravenclaw named Penelope. He was pretty angry about it too and James just wasn't listening. He was thinking about Lily. Remus, meanwhile, spotted Nicole. He walked confidently over to her and said hi. She almost ran away, but Remus took her arm and said, "Stay, I have something for you." Her eyes brightened as Remus took out a crisp red rose and handed it to her. She said, "So, those rumors, they're not true?" Remus replied, "No! Why would I go out with Penelope? Her hair is stringy and blonde, her face is covered in pimples and she needs to lose a few pounds. While you, you're… pretty." He stared into her deep, chocolate colored eyes. She stared back into his Sky blue ones. She turned around quickly and conjured a red rose silently. She handed it back to Remus and he looked delighted. He said, "I guess this means we're going together. Want to go have lunch?" Nicole jumped up and walked next to Remus into the Great Hall.

James walked in with Lily. Lily looked like she would rather be stuck in a cage with a lion than with James. He was yelling, "Why are you so depressed. What could possibly have happened over the last half hour that I wasn't aware of?" Lily screamed, "You're not all knowing! I told you I don't want to talk about it!" She sat at a bench and James sat right next to her. He said, "You're hiding something! Tell me! I can be a lot more annoying than this!" Lily yelled in his face, "I know you can be more annoying, but I don't want to tell you and I'm not hiding anything!" She helped herself to some treacle tart. All she wanted was to be left alone so she could think. James immediately started poking her and tickling her and trying to feed her. She slapped his hand away every time.

After several pokes, Lily looked as if she was going to explode and cry at the same time. James said, "Ok, Lily dear. I'll leave you alone, on one condition. You promise to tell me what you're "not hiding" by the end of the day." Lily said, "I don't have to promise you anything. Now go away!" James said, "Fine, I'll leave, are you ok? You seem sad and very un-lily like today." Lily said, "Well, actually, I wasn't in a very good mood to begin with and you just made it worse." James didn't really understand, but he got up and left."

He tried not to look over at Lily, but he couldn't help sneaking a glance. He started talking to Sirius. He said, "Padfoot, Lily hates me. How could I have done this to her?" Sirius replied, "Well, I'm sure she doesn't hate you. Just apologize. He said ok and got up. He said, "Lilykins? I'm sorry. I have nothing against Severus exactly, just him giving you a rose. You're mine and anyone who asks you is my personal enemy." Lily got up and glared at him. She yelled, "I am not yours! I am a human being! Now go away Potter!" He said, "Ok, so you're technically not mine, but still!" Lily screamed, "I cannot be owned in any way potter!" James said, "Fine, you're not mine at all. "

Remus and Nicole walked into the Great Hall. They had finished lunch and went on a walk near the lake. Remus had held Nicole's hand and they were still like this now. They sat down and Nicole laid her head against Remus's chest. He silently kissed the top of her head and she stared into his eyes. They were thinking the same thing, nothing could ruin this day.

Severus saw Lily's unhappy face from the Slytherin table. He caught her glancing at his sad face. He thought that if he smiled, it would assure her that he was ok. He tried to catch her eye. Sirius Black walked over to James, who was now sitting alone. He said, "Prongs, guess what! Lily rejected Snivellus! I just heard!" James yelled happily, "Really! I can't believe it! I knew Lilykins had more sense than that! Yes!" He realized that he had said this a little to loudly and looked over to see Lily looking devastated at him. He walked over and said calmly, " Lily, don't run away. I'm, I'm sorry. Whoever you want to go with is fine with me. I won't kill Severus if you change your mind. I don't want you to be unhappy." Lily said, "Wow Potter, that was actually mature." She still looked close to tears. She added, "Thanks. I was just a little upset when I heard how you reacted. I think I'll be ok." She tried to force a smile and looked over at Severus. She caught his eye and he smiled. She was relieved to see that he was fine. James said, "Are you sure? You still seem sad. I know I'm not very sensitive. I can't help it. I should never have said the things I said earlier to begin with. I don't want you to be sad. We can't have you depressed and then me depressed when and if you reject me." Lily smiled and said, "Thanks. I'm serious, I'll be fine." James hugged her and walked away.

Lily was surprised when he hugged her and even more surprised when she didn't pull away. Remus and Nicole and Padfoot were watching now. Lily looked slightly happier now. She walked back to the common room to think. She was so confused.

Sirius finally asked a girl to the ball. Her name was Leah Johnson and she was part of his many fan clubs. She was pretty, but just pretty. He just didn't want to go alone. He really didn't care if James was mad or not. Remus and Nicole were snogging in the hall as he walked to the common room. He decided not to interrupt them. He met Lily in the common room. She asked if he'd seen James. He said that he was still in the Great Hall. Lily went back to sit down. James would come to her for sure.

Sure enough, James appeared moments later. He said, "Hi. Ok if I sit here?" Lily didn't move, she just stared. He said, "Not to pressure you or anything, but, have you decided yet? I really care about you and if it makes you happier to go with Sev than so be it. Just let me down now if you're going to." Lily smiled and shook her head. She flicked her wand and a red rose appeared in James's hand. He yelled, "Lilykins! I knew you would pick me!" He leaned over and kissed her. She looked shocked. Not happy shocked, just shocked. James pulled away. He looked at her and waited. She said, "What was that for? I, what, you, I need to think." She ran away and James called, "Lily darling, wait!", but she was already gone. How could he have messed this up already?

Lily refused to talk to him the next day. The one thing she said was that all she needed was time. He decided to be responsible and give it to her. He spent his day talking to Sirius or Remus, when they weren't with their girls. He sometimes felt so alone that he didn't know what to do.

Finally Lily talked to him. She said, "James, sit down. We need to talk." He sat right next to her and waited. She said calmly, "James, I don't know if I like you the way you like me. You believe in love at first sight and I believe in years building up to a good relationship. I'm not dumping you, don't freak out! I'm just saying." James said, "Well, what do you mean? We've had years. Haven't we? This isn't some game. I… I love you Lily. I meant it when I gave you that rose. I thought you would've known after two nights ago. Do you… Love me?" Lily opened her mouth, but no words came out. After a minute she said, "I don't know James. That's why I haven't talked to you. I knew that was what you wanted to know, but I just couldn't answer. And I still can't." James nodded his head in understanding. He leaned in to kiss her. She didn't pull away. If fact, she kissed him back. This was glorious.

Remus and Nicole appeared in the room. James and Lily separated quickly. They both looked embarrassed. Remus said, "Sorry James, Lily. We didn't mean to." He walked away with Nicole. They were arm in arm and they looked as if they could explode from happiness. Lily said, "That was nice." James said, "Yeah. Can you answer that question yet?" She smiled and hit him playfully over the head. He laughed, then she laughed and they snogged again.

By the time James went to bed that night he could not have been happier. Lily never answered, but it didn't matter. He loved her and that counted for something. Besides, the ball was tomorrow! In the dormitories, James saw Sirius snogging his new girl. James, who was tired of being polite, sad, "Whoa! I thought you didn't even like the girl Padfoot!" Sirius broke away and glared at his friend. He said angrily, "I never said that. Leah is awesome." He kissed her goodbye and she left. Sirius said, "Do you have to ruin every good moment of my life? What's got you so happy?" James replied, "Yes, I do and … I snogged Lily! She's going to the ball with me and we snogged and then Moony walked in on us, but still!" Sirius looked surprised and said, "She's really going with you? That' a shocker." James said, "Yes! I'm so happy!" They both rolled over and went to sleep.

The next day's classes had been cancelled for the seventh years, so James spent the day with Lily; Remus spent the day with Nicole and Sirius with Leah. The also spent a lot of time in a big group. Leah and Sirius were really into snogging and rarely stopped to talk. Lily liked to talk, so that's what they did, along with some snogging, and Remus and Nicole seemed to get lost in each other's eyes. They had a great day even before the ball started.

At 7:00, the ball started in the Great Hall. Lily wore a sparkly green dress that looked almost exactly like her eyes. Nicole wore yellow and Leah wore brown. The boys didn't care what they wore, just what the girls wore. Sirius, James and Remus all wore plain black dress robes. They all took their girls on their arm and walked in together. James said to Lily, "You look so gorgeous in that dress." Lily said thank you and they kept walking. Remus and Nicole were lost in their eyes again; James thought they might run into something because they weren't paying attention. He turned around and saw Sirius and Leah snogging again about three feet behind them. He yelled, "Padfoot! You can snog your girl later! Come on!" James asked Lily, "Are we the only normal ones here?" Lily said, "I don't know about you, but I think I'm pretty normal." James laughed and they walked on.

Sirius looked embarrassed as he walked down with Leah. They did indeed enjoy snogging very much. They were often seen after class in the halls, attached. They rarely ever talked. Neither could really find words to say. Sirius, who had started out not liking this girl at all, now could not often be seen without her. Remus and Nicole were almost the same. They didn't really talk to each other. They just stared, as though they were communicating through their eyes. As they were walking, Remus was still staring at Nicole and her at him. A table had been set up there and they weren't paying attention. Remus fell over it and Nicole screeched, "Remus are you ok!? Where did that table come from?" Remus got up and brushed himself off. He said, "I'm alright Nicole dear. I have no idea why there is a table here. Maybe it's for the ball." James was too busy laughing to look at the table. Sirius had joined along and Lily ad Leah looked astonished. Leah said, "How could you laugh when you're best mate could've broken a leg?" Sirius replied, "Don't worry Leah. That's just the way we are. If he had been hurt we would've acted differently." Lily didn't seem surprised at how childishly they were acting. She was used to it by now.

They finally reached the great hall without any more snogging, staring or running into things. Lily seemed a lot happier than she had over the last few days. James was thrilled until they bumped into Severus with a Slytherin girl. He stopped and said, "Hey Lily. How are you?" He tried to force a smile but was unsuccessful. He ended up looking even sadder. Lily returned a smile, but hers was her usual, radiant one. She said, "Hello Sev. I'm fine thank you." She walked away with James. James's face was angry, but he didn't yell. He had learned over the past days that yelling only makes Lily sad and angry. He didn't even look at Severus, but he knew Severus had looked at him. Lily walked back over and said calmly, "Don't get mad, he only said hi." James nodded stiffly and they entered the Great Hall.

Everything was decorated in silver and red. It looked very romantic and James couldn't wait for it to begin. They all sat down at a table and waited. Professor Dumbledore appeared and said, "Welcome everyone, to the Seventh Year ball. I hope all of you enjoy yourselves tonight. I just need to cover some ground rules, you are still on school property, act appropriately. Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that any extreme mess you make will be yours to clean up. Now without further a do, Enjoy!" He left the stage and the music started playing. The three guys got up and held out their hands for the girls. Each girl got up and took her guy's hand. They walked to the middle of the dance floor and started dancing to the slow, romantic music. Nicole laid her head against Remus's chest while they slowly twirled around. Leah was staring up at Sirius while they danced. Lily and James clung together, dancing. They were so much happier than they had been the last few days.

They danced like this for song after song after song. Finally after about six songs, they got hungry. James insisted that he would get something for Lily and she should sit down, even though she had said many times that she could get her own food. All the girls wound up sitting at a table while the guys got them food. The boys returned moments later with cauldron cakes, pumpkin pasties, treacle tart and chocolate frogs. They also carried butter beer for everyone. The girls wore smiles when they walked back. Nothing could ruin this night for anyone.

At the end of the ball, James walked off alone with Lily and the others walked off alone too. They all knew that Sirius and Leah would be snogging somewhere, but they were surprised to see Nicole and Remus were snogging too. James leaned down to Lily. They snogged just like everyone else. It was perfect. James didn't want it to end, but Severus walked by again. Lily gave him a little wave that said "bye bye now." Severus looked hurt, but left anyway. She continued snogging James and they eventually walked back up to the common room. They met up with the others and discussed how perfect this night was.

All the girls sat cuddled with their guys on the big comfy couches. The room had an air of utmost happiness. Lily looked up at James and said, "James, I'm glad I picked you." James looked back at her and said, "Me too." He looked over to see Sirius snogging yet again. He said, "Hey Padfoot, do you ever get tired of that?" Sirius said, "No James, I don't. Maybe you should try it." He glared evilly and turned back to Leah. Remus said to Nicole, "Nicky dear, do you want to go somewhere else. I have a feeling things are going to get messy around here." Nicole said, "Whatever do you mean Remsie?" He said, "Well, Sirius is pretty, well, serious about his girls and James is, you know, him." Nicole laughed and said, "Sure Remsie, where to?" Remus got up and led her to the dormitories. No one was up there so they were in perfect private. Remus leaned over and snogged Nicole. Neither pulled away or let go.

Down in the common room, Lily and James had joined in on the snogging. Finally, Lily pulled away and James tickled her. She giggled and said, "I'm tired. I'm gonna go to bed. Good night James. I… I love you." James stared at her, his mouth wide open. He said, stuttering, "You, you said you love me. You do? You mean it?" Lily nodded her head and said, "Yes, I mean it. Good night." James said, "Good night Lilykins. I love you too." Sirius and Leah separated for the night. He tickled her under the chin and said, "'night Leah! See you tomorrow!" Leah giggled slightly and said, "Good night Sirikins." James and Sirius walked together up into the dormitories to find Remus snogging Nicole while the two sat next to each other on the edge of the bed. James said, "And I thought Padfoot had a problem." Remus pulled away and said, embarrassed, "Oh, um, good night Nicky dear. I'll see you at breakfast?" She replied with scarlet cheeks, "Yes, 'night Remus." She walked hurriedly out of the room.

The guys all went to sleep with smiles that night. Even after the fiasco at the beginning, everything worked out fine. James had Lily, Remus had Nicole and Sirius had Leah, whom he had not liked a week ago. Nothing could ever change how amazing that night was.

**Hope you thought it was as awesome as I did! It started out as a role play on ! Please review!**

**Luv,  
Lilies **


End file.
